Top 25 Fantasy Baseball Prospects to Stash (Redraft): Eric Cross' Rookie Rankings for Week 9

May 28, 2025

Eric Cross' top 25 fantasy baseball prospects to stash in redraft for Week 9 (2025). His updated MLB rookie rankings for prospect call-ups to make 2025 impacts.

The month of May has brought us a steady trickle of exciting prospect promotions, and hopefully, June will be no different.

While we saw Marcelo Mayer make his debut in Boston over the weekend, we're still waiting for Roman Anthony to get the call. We also have three of my top five pitching prospects dominating in Triple-A, just waiting for their chance to unleash their dominant arsenals on Major League hitters.

These prospect rankings are for 2025 redraft value only. These are MLB prospects who could potentially make a fantasy baseball impact in 2025 redraft leagues. You can also see our top fantasy baseball dynasty prospects rankings for longer-term outlooks and our 2025 fantasy baseball rankings dashboard for all other league formats.

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Top 25 Prospects to Stash in Redraft Leagues

My prospect write-ups are below the rankings. These rankings are for 2025 redraft value only, not dynasty. These are MLB prospects who could potentially make a fantasy baseball impact in 2025.

Promoted Last Week: Marcelo Mayer (BOS), Matt Shaw (CHC), Alejandro Osuna (TEX), Denzel Clarke (ATH), Caden Dana (LAA)

Honorable Mentions (Hitters): Alex Freeland (SS), Bryce Eldridge (SFG), Jett Williams (NYM), Kevin Alcantara (CHC), Owen Caissie (CHC), Tyler Black (MIL), Jacob Melton (HOU), Spencer Jones (NYY), Tyler Locklear (SEA), Justin Foscue (TEX), Harry Ford (SEA), C.J. Kayfus (CLE).

Honorable Mentions (Pitchers): Noah Schultz (CHW), Ian Seymour (TBR), Thomas Harrington (PIT), Quinn Mathews (STL), Nolan McLean (NYM), Jonah Tong (NYM), Cade Cavalli (WAS), Brandon Sproat (NYM), Mick Abel (PHI), Carson Whisenhunt.

Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings Analysis

Jac Caglianone, Kansas City Royals

If you asked me before the season started, I believe I had an August ETA for Jac Caglianone. Now I'd be shocked if he's still in Triple-A by the All-Star break. The Royals are a contending team in a wide-open American League who are getting next to nothing from their current contingent of lackluster outfielders. Not only is Caglianone mashing home runs at a Ruthian pace, but he's also made four starts in the outfield in his last eight games.

Every day and TWICE on Sunday for Jac Caglianone 🔥

The @Royals' 2024 first-rounder drills his second homer of the game -- fifth in four days -- for the @OMAStormChasers. pic.twitter.com/gadH0XdXW3

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) May 25, 2025

In six games since getting to Triple-A, Caglianone has mashed five home runs, all of which have come in his last four games. None of these have been cheap shots either, and overall, Caglianone has a 61% hard-hit rate and 21.7% barrel rate so far in Triple-A. While he still chases too much, Caglianone makes solid contact and has Aaron Judge/Shohei Ohtani/Oneil Cruz levels of power potential. I expect him to get the call to Kansas City sooner rather than later.

Cole Young, Seattle Mariners

After a lackluster April where he slashed .200/.327/.274 with zero home runs, Cole Young has smacked five home runs this month along with seven doubles, three triples, and a .345/.436/.667 slash line. Now that's more like it!

Even with the poor April, Young's offensive metrics under the hood this season have been solid across the board. He's currently running a 89% zone and 81.5% overall contact rate with a 11.5% walk rate and an 11.9% strikeout rate. The quality of contact has been decent as well, with an 89.6 mph AVG EV, 44.2% hard-hit rate, and an 8.6% barrel rate.

Despite this May homer barrage, Young's power upside still isn't overly high, but if he can get to 15 home runs annually with double-digit steals and a high AVG/OBP, he could still provide value to fantasy teams. Young has been playing primarily shortstop lately but can play both middle infield positions, and the second base spot is his path to Major League playing time. The Mariners are currently using a rotation of Dylan Moore, Leo Rivas, and Miles Mastrobuoni.

Ryan Ritter, Colorado Rockies

Colorado's Ryan Ritter is one of the hottest hitters in Triple-A this month. The 2022 fourth-round pick has mashed eight home runs with a .359/.419/.846 slash line in the month of May and hit a trio of taters on Sunday. He's now up to 12 home runs and 12 doubles in 45 games this season with a .284/.400/.580 slash line.

Ritter has been hitting the ball hard this season with a 45% hard-hit rate and 14.7% barrel rate, but his improvements to his approach are just as exciting. After striking out 29% of the time in 2024, Ritter is only striking out 21.1% of the time this season while also improving his already reasonable walk rate from 11.8% to 14.1%.

While Ritter has played mostly shortstop this season, where he's currently blocked by Ezequiel Tovar, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rockies called him up soon to slot in at second base or at the DH spot. Adael Amador and Nick Martini have been getting the most reps at second base and DH, respectively, but aren't giving Colorado any offensive support. Amador is currently slashing .151/.240/.233 and Martini .237/.302/.309.

Bubba Chandler, Pittsburgh Pirates

At this point, Triple-A hitters might file a grievance with the Pittsburgh Pirates for leaving Bubba Chandler in Triple-A to dominate opposing batters. I'm not sure what the Pirates are waiting for, but I suppose they're happy rolling with a 3-4-5 of Andrew Heaney, Bailey Falter, and Mike Burrows instead of calling up arguably the top pitching prospect in the game, who has excelled in Triple-A all season.

MLB's top-ranked pitching prospect Bubba Chandler takes a no-hitter into the 6th for the Triple-A @indyindians ⭐️

When could the @Pirates phenom debut in The Show? @SamDykstraMiLB takes a look: https://t.co/R8DTB00uh0 pic.twitter.com/HEGDksZXVI

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 25, 2025

Chandler took a no-hitter into the 6th inning of his last start and currently has a 2.27 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, and a 34.5% strikeout rate across 10 starts spanning 43.2 innings. The only real wart right now is the walk rate ticking up to 11.3% after being at 8.6% in 2024. But that's not a major concern moving forward.

Andrew Painter, Philadelphia Phillies

International League hitters have to deal with Andrew Painter as well, who has made his last three starts with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In those three starts, Painter has allowed three earned runs in 12 innings with 15 strikeouts. In seven starts overall this season, Painter has posted a 3.09 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 7.3% walk rate, and a 28.1% strikeout rate.

In his last Triple-A outing on 5/21, Painter went 4-seam/cutter heavy while mixing in a handful of sliders and curveballs. He averaged 96.5 mph on his 4-seamer, topping at 98.3 mph, and generated seven whiffs on the 4-seamer and 13 total.

The Phillies said Painter's timeline would have him back with the big club around mid-season, and that appears to be on track. Although I'm not exactly sure who gets the bump as the Phillies rotation is loaded, especially when Aaron Nola returns, and the Phillies have also said that Painter will be used as a starter and not in a bullpen role.

Cade Cavalli, Washington Nationals

Remember him? After making his Major League debut back in 2022, Cade Cavalli missed all of 2023 and most of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, making it back for only 8.1 innings late last season. Cavalli had a bit of a delayed start this season as well, but debuted on 4/19 in Single-A, receiving one start there and one start in Double-A before getting back to Triple-A for his last four outings.

The first two Triple-A outings yielded eight earned runs in 4.2 innings, but Cavalli has allowed just two earned runs in his last two starts (9.0 IP) with two walks and 13 strikeouts. Cavalli's 4-seamer is down a tick from where he was back in 2022, but was still averaging around 94 mph in his last outing on 5/22. He's also added a sinker, which averaged 94.6 mph in that outing, to give him a 5-pitch mix now with the two fastballs along with a curveball, slider, and changeup.

This isn't some I'm recommending you rush to the waiver wire to stash, but Cavalli is an arm to keep an eye on and one who could finally return to the Nationals at some point this summer. Remember, this was a top-10 caliber pitching prospect before getting hurt back in 2023.

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